chasing happiness

chapter five: the date that actually counted

The day's progressed and I continued to spend my days with my mother. Together we spent our long afternoons baking new and delicious treats along with coming out with fun artistic crafts to create. I greatly enjoyed her presence. She was the one human I could confide in, granted she was the only one who knew of all my current struggles.
As of today we found ourselves in my parents beautiful mansion I had provided them on the outskirts of the glorious city of Nashville.
"Do you like him?" She asked one evening as we prepared a dinner for ourselves and my father. The topic was Adam, as it seemed to be the most relevant at the time.
"I guess. I mean he's a nice person. Everything is just so forced." I sighed.
"So you think it could be different?" She was all about the deep stuff. The stuff that took hard work and diligence to coax out of someone as rigid as me. But for her I complied.
"Maybe." A short answer for a short story. I did not feel like digging into this.
"But at least he's nice to you." She said more to herself than me. She was right, he was more than just nice. He dealt with my shit without a single complaint I guess I owed him that much.
"Mom, I've only ever hung out with him like twice." I reminded her.
"Then maybe you're just missing out on all that could be! You too should go do something fun. Something not worked related."
I rolled my eyes. It would not help.
"Come on Taylor, live a little. Relax."
"Yeah because I can totally relax with everything going on." I said in a whisper. She stopped what she was doing to hug me and look me in the eyes.
"It's okay. I'm okay. I know you think if this whole set up to be a punishment but it was meant to give you a partner, someone you could be with. Go relax a bit and enjoy it. I'm doing just fine here, nothing is wrong Taylor stop worrying. Please go and enjoy yourself. If not for him than me?"
How could I say no to her? She knew exactly what I was thinking of. It was the infamous elephant in the room. In every room.
"Alright I will try. But for you, not Delilah, not Adam."
She hugged me again. I felt the faint touch of a tear trail down my cheek. Everything was so hard. Yet so complicated and easy. I did not know how feel anymore. I was numb. And when I did feel something, it was waves of sadness and edge.

The previous day I had received a call from good friend Jamie King. I had not answered, but as of now I decided to call her back. The deeper I got with Delilah and my "fake relationship" the less time I spent with my friends. I missed them but time just did not allow for our company to be met.
"Hey Taylor!" She replied within three rings.
"Hi Jamie, what's up?"
"You'll never guess this! But I got tickets to see Kenny Chesney tonight in concert!! I have two extra tickets, want to come?" She was overly excited with her good fortune.
"Haha sure." I replied, maybe this was the "fun" my mother had been referring to.
"Great! I'm bringing my hubby, so like I didn't want you to feel like a third wheel or anything haha.. So you can give the other ticket to a friend?"
Instantly five different girls came to mind. And I agreed hanging up the phone with an enthusiasm that I had not felt in a while. Maybe a date out was just what I needed.

Of course I had to clear it with Delilah and of course this ruined everything as it always did.
"Great I'm happy you're getting out! Bring Adam." She replied via text.
"But it's a girls night out." I responded. I lied, it wasn't. I just didn't want to bring Adam.
"No buts Taylor. You agreed to this. Plus he's in Nashville and doesn't know a soul. Introduce him to your friends!"
So with great reluctance I texted him my proposal and it went something like this:
"Hey"
"Hey:)"
"I'm going to a Kenny Chesney concert with friends. Go with me?"
"Yeah sure when?"
"Tonight."
"Oh, alright. Can I pick you up?"
"Sure, 5pm."
"Alright see you then."
I was very blunt, I decided to spare him the heartache of knowing it was forced upon me. Delilah did have a point. He had made an effort to join me in Nashville and he knew not a soul. I guess it was time I started acting, if anything, as a friend. Isn't that all he had asked for our first date?
By the time 5 o'clock came I had finished all my days work. I had also had time to watch TV with Olivia and take s nice long shower before dressing up for the even. Just in time, Adam found his way to my door. The polite thing to do would have been to invite him in and see my home but I did not want to plus I wanted to meet Jamie as soon as possible. So I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door before he could walk in.
"So who exactly are we seeing tonight?" He asked. He was driving and the idea made me apprehensive. I was quick to remember Harry and the way he drove; one hand on the wheel and no eyes on the road. To my relief, Adam was much better.
"You don't know who Kenny Chesney is?" I said, deciding to give the multi-millionaire pop star a hard time for not knowing a thing about country.
"Well not exactly that either, but what I meant was your friends." He stated, eyes fixed on the road.
"Oh, Jamie King and her husband will be with us. You will like them."
We arrived and were easily escorted to our private seats above the din of the crowd.
"Taylor! I've missed you!" Jamie trotted to me and engulfed me in her full embrace.
"I've missed you too! You look great. Oh and I want you to meet my new boyfriend!"
I was not pretending to be happy to see Jamie but everything else that followed I was.
"So you did not end up third-wheeling after all!" She exclaimed then introduced herself to Calvin aka the public form of Adam. Thank goodness he introduced himself or I may have forgot.
"So how long have you been dating and why didn't you tell me!" She asked next. This is where the fun of make believe began.
I rushed to Calvin's side and draped myself over him.
"We've been going out for about a week now. He's so nice and honestly so great," I happily shared smiling into his deep blue eyes. He smiled that contagious bright smile back at me as if to thank me for the compliment even though he knew I was being over dramatic and fake. But his smile was so beautiful I had to smoke back. Looking at him made me realize that maybe I was was not forcing my smile after all.
The whole night amounted in massive fun. I danced with Jamie and we screamed the lyrics to our favorite songs. Adam got along well with the other men in the group which was nice. I came to the conclusion he was in good in any crowd and I liked that about him. Every once and awhile though I would come back to his side and try to make our love look as realistic as possible. I noticed from the corner of my eye that people were watching and of course taking pictures of us. That's when I realized I needed to step up my game. Adam was good at giving me my space. Almost too good.
"Maybe you should wrap your arm around me or something." I whispered into his ear. He gave me a confused look and so I pointed at one of the cameras as indirectly as possible.
"Ohh," he breathed. I didn't have to ask again. The next thing I knew he was up behind me and wrapping his huge, muscular arm around to top of my chest at the beginning of my shoulders. I tensed at his touch once more. How unfamiliar the touch of another male felt to me.
Of course when he did this, more cameras where pointed in our direction. He began to sway me to the music. Every once in a while he would lean down to whisper something in my ear like "I like this song" or "that persons staring at you" to make me laugh. He was a good head taller than me so the occasional forehead kisses were very manageable for him. His pretend affection came almost effortlessly. And I had to admit I was slightly jealous.

We remained the rest of the concert in this way. He held onto me and I continued to sing along, every once in awhile looking up at him in the loving-est way I could muster. The night flowed beautifully and honestly I did not expect for it to end with me being happy but it did. And that was the day our date actually counted for something. And I was officially entered into the chase of happiness.

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Yay I hope you like this chapter! The scene comes from the picture above, though I kind of meshed their two concert dates into one. So it's kind of different from what actually happened but hopefully you guys got the idea. The night isn't over though and it continues in the next chapter! Any guesses on what will happen next? Leave a comment:)